Job Chart - Teach The Value Of Work

What is the purpose and value of a job chart within the
family? If you ask different people, you will get a different answer.
We wanted to give you some ideas how to effectively use one and teach
the right principles to your children.

Effective Use Of A Job Chart

We know a lot of parents that have children complete chores
around the house. In fact, this is a very important part of raising
children. However, if you go about it the wrong way, you can actually
give the perception to your children that you only gave birth to them
so that they could slave around the house for you. That is not what we
are after...

If you approach having a list of chores like that for your
children, then you are sure to instill the wrong values with your
children. The more the children understand why they are doing it, the
better the experience will be.

We are certainly not parenting experts. We simply wanted to
share what we have done with our children that has been successful in
hopes that it would work for you too. Here are some principles to help
you teach your children about doing jobs around the house:

Be
Age
Appropriate - There are two different aspects to being age
appropriate. The first part is to give them jobs that are reasonable
for their age. We do not give the same jobs to our 5 year old that we
give to our 9 year old. Their abilities to work are different and so we
must give them jobs appropriately.

If you give them tasks that are beyond their abilities to
complete, they will only be frustrated and they will have no interest
in learning to work. The job chart will then be an item of contention
that causes fights. That is completely counter-productive.

The other part of being age appropriate is to keep in mind
their ability for the associated chore. As an example, my definition of
cleaning a room is much different than the 5 year old's definition. So,
you have to keep this in consideration.

We are trying to teach our children the value of working. If I
constantly tell them that they did not do good enough, they will be
frustrated and lose self-esteem. Congratulate them and show them love
for what they have done. Let them feel the reward of working hard and
accomplishing something. Over time, show them how to do even better.

Pay Them Or Not?
- I know different parents have different feelings about paying
children for doing chores around the house. Some parents feel that they
want to reward the children for their work with the job chart. Some
parents want the children to do the work because they are part of the
family and should contribute.

We prefer to pay the children
for the work. Why? Because for us, we are not only trying to teach them
to work hard, but we are also trying to teach them how to use money
appropriately. If they never (or rarely) have their own money to
manage, they will never learn how to give money, save money, and spend
money.

The way we do it in our house is that the children
are not given an allowance. They are paid commissions for the work that
they do. It is very simple: if they do the work, they get paid. If they
don't, they do not get paid.

The principle that we want
them to learn is that the way you earn money in this life is to work
for it. An allowance makes them feel entitled to receiving money. Don't
we all know enough people that feel they are entitled to people giving
them money? We do not want our children to be one of those people. We
want them to understand that when you work hard, you are rewarded for
the work.

See, for us, a job chart is so much more than just having
children helping out around the house. It
is about building character. It is all about helping them develop core
values that will carry them through their lives. Our focus is to raise
children that will be strong, contributing members of society.

And
we believe that all those values should be taught in the home by loving
parents. There is not a better way for them to learn those values.